Performance Pathways team conclude ‘High-Performance Inductions and Exits’ road show

By Elliott Newell | 22/11/2018

The EIS Performance Pathways team concluded their ‘High-Performance Inductions and Exits’ roadshow this week, which has seen them deliver in Loughborough, Bisham and Manchester.

The workshops, led by Performance Pathway Scientists Elliott Newell and Andy Burns, were created to meet emerging requests following on from the successful ‘World Class Transitions’ symposium in the summer.

Transitions are a key focus for the high-performance community at the moment. Feedback from current and previous athletes and staff has indicated that the entrance onto and exits out of world class programmes can be a challenging time. The Pathway Team – supported by the UK Sport Culture team and the EIS Performance Lifestyle team – delivered a symposium on ‘World Class Transitions’ in the summer, highlighting that effective transitions foster a clear sense of belonging, clarity, and trust.

Finding ways to enhance the athlete experience during key periods of transitions is a focus for the work being undertaken in this area across the system.

In response to these emerging needs, Elliott and Andy from the Performance Pathway team hit the road and brought sports together for a series of ‘community of practice’ workshops.

Elliott said, “We said at the transitions symposium that we were committed to supporting meaningful change in this area and didn’t want the event be a flash in the pan. We consulted a number of people from different sports about what would help and exploring inductions and exits into and out of world class programmes was highlighted.”

The workshops created a space for people to get together to critically reflect upon their current induction and exit processes as well as hear from other sports. Each workshop was supported by a short case study to stimulate thinking (from Canoeing in Loughborough, Shooting in Bisham and Taekwondo in Manchester) before people broke off into their sport groups for some supported discussion.

Karen Williams, Head of Performance Programmes at British Gymnastics said, “the workshops provided an excellent opportunity to discuss challenges and opportunities around inductions and exits. Having the chance to share ideas with other sports as well as get into some deep discussion with people from our own sport was really helpful. It gives you a good gauge of your own progress and understanding”.

The workshops were attended by 64 people from 30 different Olympic, Paralympic and professional sports.

Off the back of these workshops, a number of bespoke support projects are likely to emerge as sports continue to drive best practice in inductions, transitions and exits in their programmes. The Performance Pathways team will continue to liaise closely and collaborate with colleagues in the EIS to ensure that sports receive the best, most cohesive, package of support in order to make best practice in inductions, transitions and exits common practice.

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